Pickup The Phone

Can artificial intelligence actually replace your front desk, run your legal compliance, and fuel your real estate agents for less than the cost of a cup of coffee? ☕🤖 In this episode of the Pick Up the Phone Podcast , host Josue Llanas sits down with vertical entrepreneur and broker Alan Hernandez of White Picket Realty. Alan pulls back the curtain on how he is pioneering a fully AI-operated re...

Join Josue Llanas on the Pick Up The Phone Podcast as he sits down with Dan Axelrod, an economist turned real estate developer, to discuss his unique strategy for building wealth: increasing property density. In this episode, you'll discover: Dan's Journey: From studying economics in Vegas to building single and multi-family units in Houston. The Economist's Edge: Why looking at real estate throug...

How do you scale a real estate investing business from a few inconsistent flips to a highly predictable, multi-deal monthly operation? In this episode of the Pick Up The Phone Podcast , host Josue Llanas sits down with real estate entrepreneur, founder, and innovator Chris Bounds . Together, they break down the exact operational frameworks, marketing channels, and capital-raising structures requir...

In this episode of Pick Up The Phone Podcast, Josue Llanas sits down with Charles Patawaran, entrepreneur, commercial real estate operator, developer, and CCIM designee. Charles shares his journey from building businesses in the healthcare industry to becoming a respected figure in commercial real estate. The conversation dives into business acquisitions, EBITDA valuations, SBA financing, capital...

Welcome to another powerhouse episode of the Pick Up The Phone Podcast with your host, Josue Llanas! In this episode, we are joined by Carlos Pereira, a construction entrepreneur who immigrated from Cuba to Miami at age 10 and went on to build a massive $15 million real estate development empire in just two years. Carlos breaks down his entire journey—from navigating government rehab contracts at...

Are you ready to scale your real estate business and protect your portfolio from modern industry shifts? In this episode of the Pick Up The Phone Podcast , host Josue Llanas sits down with real estate veteran Lee West . Lee reveals how he successfully broke free from the "golden handcuffs" of a stable Big Four accounting career to build a multi-million dollar wholesaling operation, closing over 30...

What does it take to walk away from a traditional family business and build a real estate company generating $4 million a year? In this episode of the Pick Up The Phone Podcast, Josue Llanas sits down with Sean Zavary, founder of Greenlight Offer, to break down how he built one of Houston’s most recognized wholesaling operations. From surviving the post-Hurricane Harvey market to scaling a 16-pers...

HIS AI REPLACED 60 COLD CALLERS | How Josh Fard is Engineering the Future of Loans | Pick Up The Phone Podcast HIS AI REPLACED 60 COLD CALLERS | How Josh Fardwatching the industry change — TCPA, tighter compliance, pricier leads, and finally AI. He didn't just adapt. He built encrypted CRM woFardows, a voice AI for follow-up, and a loan matching dashboard that compares one borrower across 10 lende...

The Man Who Changed Houston Real Estate Forever | The Duplex King Larry Reyes | Pick Up The Phone Podcast Before Larry Reyes came along, nobody in Houston had ever built a true stacked duplex — one full unit downstairs, one full unit upstairs — on a 2,500 square foot lot. The city didn't have plans for it. Engineers said it couldn't be done. His own lenders doubted it. But Larry spent nine months...

From Fitness Trainer to 450+ Wholesale Deals | How Blake Hawkins Built a Wholesaling Machine & Invested $1.5M in Lead Generation | Pick Up The Phone Podcast The unfiltered journey of Blake Hawkins — from 10 years as a personal trainer at 24 Hour Fitness, to selling cars at a Nissan dealership, to quitting on a gut feeling in March 2018 and building one of Houston's most battle-tested wholesali...

From Engineer to $40M Developer: How Jeff Sturman Built 100+ Homes | Pick Up The Phone Podcast The unfiltered journey of Jeff Sturman — from mechanical engineering at Schlumberger, living as an expat in Spain, and house-hacking a foreclosed pool home in Missouri City, to building an eight-figure real estate business with $13.6M in annual revenue, 100+ homes developed, and $40M currently in develop...

From Wholesaling 300 Deals to Lending $50M+ | How Joey Davis Built Spark Lending & GetHardMoney.com | Pick Up The Phone Podcast The unfiltered journey of Joey Davis — from a missionary family moving across Russia, Colombia, and the UK, to wholesaling over 300 properties in Houston, lending out $50 million, and building two companies that are changing how real estate investors access capital....

From Oil & Gas to $100M in Real Estate Lending: How Andrew Faught Became Houston's #1 DSCR Lender | Pick Up The Phone Podcast The unfiltered journey of Andrew Faught — from 8 years grinding in oil & gas, living as an expat in South Korea, and getting fired from his corporate job, to becoming one of the top real estate lenders in the country with over $100 million in closed volume in Housto...

From Communist Cuba to 104 Real Estate Units: The Mindset & Strategy Behind Liuver Sanudo's Real Estate Empire | Pick Up The Phone Podcast The unfiltered journey of Liuver Sanudo, from escaping Communist Cuba with $8,000 in debt and no English, to building a portfolio of over 104 real estate units in Houston, Texas — and the exact mindset, strategies, and systems it took to get there. 💡 KEY T...

From $5M to $35M in Premiums: The Systems That Built GreenLine Insurance | Dulce Morales The unfiltered journey of Dulce Morales, from starting in the insurance industry at 18 with no experience, to co-founding GreenLine Insurance and building a massive $35 million annual premium operation — and the exact systems it takes to scale without burning out. 💡 KEY TAKEAWAYS: ✅ How Dulce started at 18 a...

In this episode of the Pick Up The Phone Podcast, host Josue Llanas sits down with Angel Gonzalez, a former blue-collar ironworker who built a massive real estate portfolio by age 25. Angel shares his incredible journey from selling chips in middle school to working on wind turbines, and eventually buying a 72-unit apartment complex with just $10,000 down. Angel drops bold predictions about the re...

In this episode of the Pick Up The Phone Podcast, host Josue Llanas (CEO of Vancom) sits down with Houston real estate powerhouse Chai Phansalkar to dissect a career built onrelentless pivoting, massive wholesale deals, and an immigrant's unwavering drive. Chai shares the full story of how he went from an engineering student at the University of Houston to a seasoned investor with over 600 real es...

🏠 In this episode of the Pick Up the Phone Podcast, host Josue Llanas (CEO of v Willny shares his raw, unfiltered journey from a 17-year-old in Broward County, This is NOT your typical real estate success story. Willny gets brutally honest 💡 KEY TAKEAWAYS: ✅ How Willny found his first deal on Craigslist (tied up at $50K, sold at $535 ✅ The $5,000 mastermind that completely changed his trajecto...

💡 Real estate veteran Gibran BB Hernandez — certified appraiser, broker, and former wholesaling powerhouse — joins host Josue Llanas on the Pick Up The Phone Podcast to break down what it really takes to succeed in today's shifting housing market. 🔑 What you'll take away from this episode: The systems behind 500+ wholesale deals in a single year How the rise of iBuyers and institutional ad spend...

What does it take to leave everything behind and start over in a new country — and then build a real estate investing business from nothing? In this episode of Pick Up The Phone, Josue Llanas talks with Kateryna Titenko, a Ukrainian immigrant turned Houston real estate agent and investor. Kateryna shares her journey from arriving in the U.S. to building a property investment portfolio in the Texas...

From clocking in at a 9–5 to building a real estate empire. Derek Kelley’s story is about work ethic, confidence, and refusing to stay stuck. Derek has completed 400+ real estate transactions in just 4 years , currently runs 30 active house flips , and owns 300+ doors — all while starting this journey with a W-2 job . He didn’t wait for the “perfect time.” He worked nights, weekends, and holidays....

James Toler is the #1 lender in Houston and Galveston County , with over 3,000 loans funded since 2021 and more than 100 flips per year under his belt. He’s the owner of King James Lending and one of the sharpest operators in the Texas real estate game. In this episode, James breaks down the mindset, strategy, and slow, obsessive improvement that built his empire — from earning just $4,000 in comm...

Crystal De León Sarmiento is a force. From growing up in Houston’s Southwest side to becoming a certified Business Behavior Analyst, Executive Business Coach, and the first Mexican-American councilwoman in Manvel Texas , her path is built on grit, execution, and leadership at the highest level. Crystal is the founder of The Ari Source , where she helps business owners scale with systems, KPIs, str...

Most people fear debt. Richard Marquez used it to build a $10M real estate empire. 🔥 He now owns 39 units across single-family and multifamily — built through strategy, discipline, and smart leverage. And he reached full financial freedom doing it. But his story didn’t start in real estate. Richard began in sales , transitioned into banking , and eventually became a branch manager . That’s where...

Jay Bustos and his wife run a high-performing mortgage + real estate operation — generating over $100M in loans every year and $50M+ in real estate transactions, backed by a team of 40+ people. Loan officers, realtors, and operations all moving under one vision. Named one of Houston’s Top 20 Under 40 Realtors, Jay became obsessed with building, scaling, and creating generational wealth through sma...